I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our "jobs" in the church are service-based. I lead two groups of children, ages 3-11, in 20 minutes of singing time each, every Sunday. These are my weekly music lessons and experiences ...

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Friday, December 21, 2012

Christmas Mad Gab and Choose the Right Cup Singing Time!

Update: This went really well and was super fun for both the senior and junior primary activities. I highly recommend! The senior activity is not my most quiet activity since the children have to sound the words out to hear the titles, but it's a lot of fun and can still be done in a reverent manner. I mentioned previously that I was debating how to choose the child and song for the Senior Primary Mad Gab game. I decided to just use a jar to pick a name and call a child up. The child then chose from a stack of papers, each with a different song on it. I then let everyone try to figure it out and raise their hands as they guessed the song title. It was fun to see how well the children participated in both the singing, and the activity to pick the next song. I think it really motivated them.

I have a different activity for Senior vs. Junior primary this Sunday, since the Christmas program will be running into Junior primary time, and since Junior primary children aren't as advanced with their reading skills.

Senior Primary - Mini Mad Gab
This game is loosely based on Mad Gab, where players try to identify the "real" phrase, for example, the Mad Gab example I found on Wikipedia was figuring out that "These if Hill Wore" is really "The Civil War." (Say the first phrase aloud if you're confused, and I think it will start to make sense to you.) I have seen some funny commercials about people mishearing the lyrics of songs, too, so it will be great to start this activity by giving an example and explaining that the reason we focus on enunciation is that a line in a song that sounds familiar to us will sound very different to the people listening if we slur the words.

The premise for this game is simple: once children correctly interpret a song title, they sing it.

I am debating on different ways to uncover the songs right now. I might turn over a few at a time and let children raise their hand as they recognize a song. Or, I might let children choose an image to turn over the missing word. Or, I might let each class turn a song over, then confer together to figure out the song title. There are so many fun ways to do this ...

Here are the "Mad Gab" versions I came up with for each song (with help from my clever husband, on whom I tested each version). I would love your suggestions if you have any other ideas too - some of these song titles went through four or five different versions.

Away in a Manger (#42)

A weigh inn uh main jeer

Christmas Bells (#54)

Chris muss bails

Have a Very Merry Christmas! (#51)

Half a varied Mary Chris Must

He Sent His Son (#34)

Eave scent hiss sun

Little Jesus (#39)

Lid doll Jesus

Once within a Lowly Stable (#41)

Won swift thin hello least able

Picture a Christmas (#50)

Pick sure a crisp muss

Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus (#36)

Saw mule tails dove dub bay bee Jesus

Sleep, Little Jesus (#47)

Sleep lid doll Jesus

Stars Were Gleaming (#37)

Stares war glee mean

The Nativity Song (#52)

Thud nave it tees gong

The Shepherd's Carol (Round) (#40)

Thud share pearls care 'ole

When Joseph Went to Bethlehem (#38)

Window soft wind tuba the hem

Thank you to Primary Singing Time, a "retired" primary chorister who posted the below "Mad Gab" Christmas song titles in 2009. I made up all of the above Children's Song Book versions but she covered the bases for me (and inspired this Sunday's Singing Time) with her 2009 hymnal versions, below:

Junior Primary - Your Favorite Christmas SongI am expecting to have about 10 minutes in junior primary at the most, since the Sacrament Christmas program will go long so I am going to keep it simple by modifying a game I have done before:

I will have three cups and three different colored pieces of paper, wadded up. One color represents that I pick the Christmas song that we will sing next. One color represents that the child's teacher will pick the Christmas song that we will sing next. One color will represent that the child will pick the Christmas song that we will sing next. I will call a child up to the front of the room, remind them of what each color represents, then cover each color with a cup. I will then move the cups around very quickly and then ask the child to choose a cup. Then, based on what color he selects, either the child, one of the teachers in that child's class, or I will choose a Christmas song to sing. That's it!

Singing Time, Music, and Songs

This is a blog that gives ideas for singing time activities for children ages 3-12 to make learning new songs, and learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ, a fun experience for everyone. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful for the blessings in my life, including this opportunity that I have to work with children.

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